Trips and visitors

Well, last weekend has come and gone with this weekend already upon us. My Grandpa's 75th birthday party was a hit. You can see how young and "hip" he looks in the picture below. I feel so lucky to have such a young family. There are 8 great grandchildren, with the oldest now in the second grade. It seems amazing to think that my grandparents have the potential of living long enough to see great, great grandchildren!!

Axel was fascinated by the many balloons that decorated the table. Of course, when Keith went to take a picture of Axel looking up at the balloons he turned away and looked down. My sister and I still had fun being silly.

Keith and I always take advantage of a family photo opportunity. Here is yet another..

Here is my cousin Kristi with her husband Kris. Their daughter, Sophie, who is 5 months old, is the closest in age to Axel.

Axel enjoyed meeting Sophie. As usual he was quick to put the moves on.....Luckily, Sophie didn't mind :)

Axel was also able to see Grandma and Grandpa Burgess for the second time at the party. He had a great time playing with them. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos to show for it. However, they drove down Monday night and have been visiting us this week. Here is a cute photo of the trio.

I discovered that Axel not only likes mommy's watch, but also loves Grandpa's watch.

I leave you with Axel having a great time playing on daddy's shoulders.


Sorry for the short post. Axel turns 7 months tomorrow, on Halloween. Hopefully, I will be able to write a post on Halloween and the little guy turning 7 months over the next couple of days.
Happy Trick or Treating!!!!

New Tricks

This week has flown by. It seems the weeks are starting to move faster and faster now that Axel and I are in a good routine with work and daycare. Hopefully, time will slow down. Keith and I are trying hard to cherish every moment, but it is hard when the moments flash before our eyes.
Axel came down with another cold this week. So much for being healthy this month. This was his second cold in October! I was a bit frustrated when I went to pick him up on Monday because he was in the house instead of outside with the other kids. I came to find out he was hanging out with the sick 1 year old. How did he get so lucky to hang out with the sick kid? Oh, because he happens to be the "other baby" and babies hang out with babies I guess!

On a more positive note the colds don't seem to be as disruptive to his sleep or schedule. He has been getting up twice a night rather than once a night, but Keith and I didn't expect the 8 hours of straight sleep to be the norm, just yet. Axel's naps are also becoming more regular again and longer. He has been able to sleep for a total of 1.5-2 hours at day care which is a huge improvement. At home Axel is sleeping 2-3 hours of total nap time. Yesterday was a stealer day with Axel taking an hour and forty minute nap in the morning, a 40 min nap in the Burley and another 45 min nap in the afternoon. Letting Axel fuss and cry a bit in the crib at the same times every day has really helped. Daycare was a bit opposed to this at first, but I think they are much happier with him sleeping more.

When I went to pick up Axel on Tuesday from daycare I was informed that Axel sat for 15 minutes straight in the morning playing. It was hard for me to believe that he went from a minute or two to 15 minutes, but I soon discovered yesterday that it wasn't a fluke. He is able to really sit now. The only bad thing is he will reach outside his limit and tumble over sideways. This is okay if he is in the pack n play, but not okay on a blanket on our hardwood floors. This morning he turned over too quickly for me to spot his head and boom went his head on the ground. He fake cried a little bit more out of being scared than in pain. This is the first time in years that I wish I had carpet. I think I mentioned last time that Axel no longer needs the Pacifier to put himself to sleep. At night he will shove his "lovey" in his mouth and when I am holding him before bed he sucks on his fingers. During the day you can often find him with his finger in his mouth. Here is a picture I took a couple of days ago.....like father, like son. Axel loves discovering how things work and can entertain himself for quite sometime if left alone on the floor. Below is a picture of Axel next to the kitchen cabinets. He will reach for the handles or the hinge of the door. This is often where Axel hangs out while I am cooking dinner. Yesterday, Axel rolled himself over to the swing and had fun pushing it while I prepared his dinner. Axel is becoming stronger and stronger as well as more aware of his surrounding. Earlier this morning I caught him reaching for his toy that has been hanging in his pack n play for weeks. Today was the first time he was actually able to reach it! Here is a video clip.

Time to get going. Check back soon. We hope to take lots of good pictures this weekend at Grandpa's 75th birthday party. Have a great weekend!

Axel Sleeping?!

Here are the pictures that Keith and I promised of Axel's crazy sleeping positions. The funny thing isn't the end position, but the start position. How in the world was he able to start off facing the completely opposition direction of where we find him? We got a little carried away over the past week, but we hope you will enjoy them as much as we do. I am not sure Axel enjoys us letting him cry for a couple more minutes to get these photos, but we are sure he will love seeing himself down the road. If you can see where the Binkie is....that is where Axel's head started. One thing we forget to mention about last week was that Axel weened himself off of the Binkie during his cold. He now no longer needs the Binkie to sleep or fall asleep. Lets hope it stays that way. I do let him have the binkie when I take him for a walk or bike ride, just incase he gets fussy. He usually just gnaws on it, but occasionally he still puts it in his mouth. Any moms have advice on if this will become habitual? Should I weene him entirely from the binkie? This was the same night, but a different waking. Axel rolled himself right over his rolled up blanket. Keith and I joke that all we had to do was invest in a cheap plastic lid rather than the exersaucer to entertain Axel. Here is a video clip of Axel enjoying the plastic lid.
Last we leave you with Axel eating dinner. He has been quite the oinker the past few days. He is now eating 1 full cube of food at eat meal, with three meals a day rather than just two. I also no longer mix it with milk. He prefers the texture of the food mashed up alone. Enjoy!

Times are a-changing

The Szolusha's have wonderful news to report. Axel has turned a page in his growth and development. He has made huge gains in his physical abilities, his eating habits and his sleep habits.

Let's start with the motor skills. Axel is a rolling machine. I set him down on his back and before I know it he is on his belly and then on his back again. It is very nerve racking because we have hardwood floors. I will put him on an area rug, play mate or blanket and with one roll he is off the "safe zone". I then have to watch and try to place my hand on his head to insure a slow lowering. He is getting much better and 80% of the time he eases himself down, but every now and then he lets his head go quickly and "clunk" goes his head on the floor. Normally, he looks startled. As long as I smile and tell him good job he smiles and laughs, but occasionally when he is tired or I wasn't able to reassure him with a smile he will cry. He does the same thing in the kitchen and bathroom and will roll himself right up into the cabinet. He loves to roll right and will continue trying to roll right into the cabinet. Again, a "clunk" startles him, but then he laughs if I reassure him.

Axel is also starting to scoot a lot more. He is even showing signs of crawling as he brings his knees up while on his belly. He likes to practice these skills at night. We often find him perpendicular in his crib all the way to one side or with his head right up to the corner and his body projecting out diagonally. Keith really wants to capture this on photo. I will try to remember to bring the camera into the bedroom tonight.


Speaking of the bedroom and sleep, Axel miraculously changed his sleep patterns three nights ago. Monday night Axel went to bed at 6:30ish as usual. He woke at 10pm which he has done a few other times, as opposed to his usual 9pm waking. I heard Keith come to bed at 11pm and then fell back to sleep. It felt like a mere 30 minutes had gone by when Keith woke me and said, "Did I sleep through Axel waking up". "No," I said. It was 2:45am at this point. "He is sleeping way too long," Keith explained. "Is he alive? I think you should go check on him." "No way," I said. "I am not going to disturb this awesome stretch of sleep." Well, he woke about 10 minutes later to eat and then again at 5am. Now the shocking news was not Monday night, but was Tuesday and Wednesday night. Yes, Axel out did Monday night by sleeping until 11pm and then waking at 3am and then 6:40am. I hope I am not jinxing Axel's sleep for tonight, but we are very excited that the past three nights have been as good as they are. I think the difference is that Axel is starting to consume the solids we are feeding him and the fact that I think he is now 15 lbs.

Yep, you heard me Axel is eating!!!! Every morning Axel watches daddy make breakfast. They both have a blast.


The past three days he has hit 35 oz of liquids along with 2 small meals. He could be in a growth spurt, but the food consumption is a nice treat regardless. Axel has now had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, avocado and bananas. I am sure you can all guess what his favorite food is and the magic food that we think is allowing him to "sleep through the night". If you guessed BANANAS you are right. He loved it so much after the first time I fed it to him, he continued to eat more right from the banana. I smashed a small amount between my fingers and he chowed down. It seems he almost prefers to eat it this way over mashed up with milk and rice cereal.

Today was the most beautiful fall day. It was 77 degrees with multi-colored leaves scattered over the road and grass. This is a drastic contrast to the tropical storm that hit California on Tuesday.

Keith stayed home with the Axe, to make sure the house didn't fall apart and that the dogs were okay. Axel and Keith had a ton of fun playing and winter proofing the house. Keith also had time to make persimmon cookies AND pumpkin pie.



The cookies were amazing and the pumpkin pie number three is just as delicious as the first two! Now don't be surprised if I look a little "fuller" the next time you see me :) I think all of the sweets are starting to add insulation to my frame. Keith thinks all of the junk causes me to loose weight. We will just have to see if the clothes start to become more snug. So far, so good :)

I leave you with a series of pictures Keith took of Axel dancing in his high chair.





Happy Parenting fellow Mommies and Daddies!!!!

Axel hard at work!

Hi all! Winter came overnight and as a result Axel is now wearing clothes that are for 6-9 months. they are a little big, but will have to do. The picture above was right before we left for work and school this past Monday morning. I believe the temperature was 49 degrees outside when we left.

According to Axel's daycare he was quite fussy on Monday and a little fussy on Tuesday and Wednesday. Well, the fussiness turned to a scream fest on Wednesday night. Axel took over an hour to put to sleep. Keith and I were hoping it was because of teething, but unfortunately, it was do to Axel catching another cold. You can see his runny nose in the picture below. We had a pretty sleepless night on Wednesday, but the past few nights Axel has been doing quite well. It is funny how proud I am of him being such a big boy and sleeping in his crib in his own room even when a cold. He has only been getting up 3-4 times a night. The humidifier and heater seem to really help. This weekend we are weather proofing his bedroom by adding the window insulators and lighting the pilot lights to our floor heaters. Lets pray his sleeping continues to get better despite our set backs.

I hadn't realized how big Axel was until looking at the picture below. I was amazed to see that he was almost as long as his play gym. Just for comparison I included a picture of him lying in his play gym at about 6.5 weeks old. Amazing....I can't remember him being so small. Axel has been hard at work making many new discoveries. Here he is playing with the strings on the slippers he inherited from his second cousins the Anderson's. I included a short video of him in action.

Axel also recently discovered that the flowers on his play gym light up. Axel can even help the birds fly from one side to the other. But his favorite thing to do is to shake his toys. Here he is shaking Mr. Giraffe. With all of the hard work Axel still finds time to have fun. Have a great week! Hopefully we will all be healthy the next time you check back in!

Axel is 6 months old!!

Axel turned 6 months this past Wednesday, on the 30th of Sept. It is amazing to think that he is half way through his first year. We just got back from his 6 month Dr.'s appt. He is still 25.5 inches long (they have mis-measured him a couple of times), which is the 30th percentile and 14lb 15.5 oz.......oh so close to our goal of 15 lbs. He is now in the 9th percentile for weight, which is a bummer because he was eating very well for a couple of weeks. He took a negative turn about a week ago. The Dr. thinks it is because he out grew his current dose of medication. We are all hoping that be increasing the dose he will start eating more again which equals sleeping more.

Here is Axel all ready to go this morning. You can see how thrilled he is by needing the Binkie to calm him :)
The medication makes a world of difference. To give you an idea when Axel is on a clinically effective dose of Zantac he is able to eat 6oz at a time and he easily consumes 32oz for the day. On days he eats well he is able to sleep in 4 hour stretches, getting up only 3 times a night. The past week or so he is back down to eating 3-4 oz at a time, barely consuming 25+ oz for the day, waking 6-8 times with 1-3 of those times being a 1 hour cry fest. I have never been an advocate for drugs until now. Keith and I are praying that he will return to his happy self within a day or two once we increase his medication.

Axel has been eating rice cereal off and on for over a month. We have been much more consistent the past week giving Axel rice cereal after his morning and late afternoon bottle. Yesterday we started sweet potatoes. He seemed to like them, despite only eating 10 spoonfuls both in the morning and later afternoon. The good thing is I know that he is finally starting to consume "solids" because his poop has changed. Yes people, they are no longer yellow and runny :)

Axel has also been on 50% formula, lactose free, for one month now as well. The GI specialist suggested doing half and half for as long as possible. This way he would still get the benefit of breast milk without having as much irritation if he is allergic to something that I am eating. She wants us to continue this for as long as I am willing to continue to pump. I have been pumping 100% of the time now for 6 weeks and luckily I am trying hard to decrease my milk supply because our freezer is getting too full so I think we will be able to make it close to the year mark.

Physically Axel continues to practice sitting, rolling and standing. He is getting better at rolling from his back to his stomach and he does a great job of being pulled up to standing from lying down on his back. He was difficult to keep still at the Dr.'s office today. He is into reaching for everything. Including blood pressure cuffs and table paper. Everything goes into the mouth! Here is Axel playing while I fold clothes. Axel accidentally opened his play gym and had more fun playing under the gym than on it :) Axel responding to his name.....he is about 50% on turning when I call him. He loves inspecting his toys more closely. Axel now pulls the animals off the play gym. He much rather play with the plastic hangers and bite the mirror :) Axel also continues to be a jabber mouth. Those of you who talk to me on the phone know that Axel is always busy talking or screeching up a storm when mommy's talking. Here is a video of how his babble has changed. I love the new cooing over the old. It sounds more real to me. Sometimes I think he is actually saying mama, dada, baba, but I know he has no idea what he is saying.

Oh, I am sure Keith would like me to include that while I was at a conference this past Saturday he took Axel for a walk with his college buddies Mark and Tyler. Yes, it was quite a scene, with three men and a baby :)


It is also important to note that with the cool weather came our first official pumpkin pie. I am excited to be in our pumpkin pie season which lasts through the end of the year. I asked Keith last night if he thinks we will break our record of 11pumpkin pies this year. I hope so because I absolutely love them. He is going to be suprised to see half of it already gone when he gets home tonight. What can I say....I had a pumpkin pie diet today :)

Ok, hope you all have a great weekend!