Justin's Photoblog 001

From Drop Box

Justin: "I thought this picture of Haydee was cute. I like taking pictures."

Eating with the family

Whenever we eat, Ryan wants to eat. We picked up some Graduates snacks to give him while we eat dinner. If we don't hand them over fast enough, he starts yelling "maamaaamaamaamaa!" At this point, he usually smells like them.

Justin is almost fully potty trained. He even closes the door some of the time.

Well baby visit

OK, it's been a while since I updated. Here's what's new:

Ryan went to his 2 month well baby visit and everything was fine. His stats at that time were: Height 24.25" (97%), Weight 12lbs 14oz (84%), and Head size 15.9" (84%). All in all, he's tall and well proportioned. He looks more like a baby than Justin because his head is proportionately bigger than Justin's was.

Over the last week or two he's started to belly laugh when I'm changing his diaper and I play with him. He's a very happy baby.

Justin still loves to interact with Ryan, to the point of getting in trouble for disrupting feeding time or diaper changes. He always wants to sit next to him or give him hugs.

Today, after sitting with Grandma, Mommy, and Daddy all morning with no break he totally lost it. He started crying harder than when he gets his shots. I wrapped him up, rocked him for a few minutes, and laid him in his crib with the lights off and no music or anything playing and he dropped off to sleep. I think he was suffering from information overload.

I've uploaded 19 new pictures to the gallery.

Blowout

A little while ago we had the worst blow out that Jenny or I have ever seen. Ryan had yellow muck from his groin, all the way around to about one inch below his neck. We just laid him in the bathtub.

One Month Checkup

We took Ryan to his one month physical today. All systems are nominal. His stats are as follows: Height 22.2in. (85%), Weight 10.6lbs. (66%), Head 38.5in. (63%). So he's a slightly larger than average baby. He may be tall. He had one injection, which he did not enjoy, but he calmed down quickly and went to sleep in his carrier.

On Saturday we took the family to the Museum of Science and Industry, and then to Perkin's for lunch. This trip was Ryan's first museum and first restaurant experience. He mostly slept. Justin was more appreciative, probably because he had pancakes with sprinkles for lunch and got to drink some of daddy's milkshake.

Ryan is getting much more aware of his surroundings and is starting to smile every once in a while, especially after feeding time. We're trying to get a good picture of a smile to post. Speaking of pictures, I've downloaded the latest batch out of the camera and will get them posted by tomorrow at the latest.

Pacifier time

We introduced Ryan to a pacifier two nights ago. It has been a tremendous help in getting him to fall asleep. Last night was the first time that he wasn't awake for a two hour stretch in the middle of the night. That meant that he was waking up to eat every two to three hours, but maybe now his day/night rhythm can start to sync up.

He spent a long time with his arm loose today. It was good practice for him and the pacifier helps him to not get upset when he looses control of himself.

OK! OK! Pictures are up. Jeez.

OK sports fans. There are 23 new pictures posted under the "Marx Family Album 2010" link on your right.

Two years...TWO... YEARS...

According to sources close to Jenny, there is a distinct lack of news and information about Ryan being posted. Commence with the blogging!

Ryan is doing great. He has had his two week well baby check-up and all systems are nominal. He's gaining weight (8 lbs. 4 oz. now), and his head is less tiny than Justin's was (64 percentile). His circumcision is healing extremely well, and quickly. In general he's a very low key baby, taking different stimuli in stride and complaining very little. He will readily be comforted by the five S's (here's where I put in another plug for Dr. Karp-If you don't have the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" you should go buy it if you have or will have any contact with infants). The biggest challenge so far, is that from about midnight to two in the morning, he requires all five S's the whole time, and he's wide awake. We have no idea why he's so awake at this time, but there it is. In the grand scheme of things, these are the kind of problems that I want to have; minor. Ryan loves to be held so we've been getting a lot of use out of our new baby sling. He's in it now as I type this.

Justin is adjusting beautifully to his new role as big brother. He usually helps us with changing Ryan's diaper by handing us clean diapers and ointment, and he is always saying "I like my new baby." When Ryan is upset and crying because he is hungry or needs a diaper change, Justin will ask if Ryan is sad and what we can do to make him happy. Also, when hugging, kissing, or otherwise touching Ryan, Justin is very gentle with him. Sometimes when Justin is hyper he wants to flop around on the bed or couch next to Jenny while she is nursing, but other than that it's been almost totally positive.

I hope this reaches some of you out there looking for more news. I'll try to be back on top of updating the blog.

For those of you who are asking for pictures, they will be forthcoming. I need to transfer them from the camera, and I don't have time to do it at the moment; maybe by tonight.

Been Around the Block

Justin and I just went for a walk around the block. He pushed his new fire engine walker all the way. When we got home he was pretty tired so he went to take a nap.

Busch Gardens

Justin visited Busch Gardens yesterday for the first time. He seemed to have a great time, and despite taking a nap at the park, he was still pretty tired when we got home. Chris posted a bunch of new pictures in the gallery, some of the theme park, some of Little Gym, some miscellaneous.

Mr. Body

Two pics from the Halloween party are up.

Bubbles

I've uploaded nine new pictures to the gallery. I don't have time at the moment to add captions, so you'll have to imagine your own captions for the time being.

Drinking and Drawing

Justin has started drinking from his sippy-cup all by himself. You can tell that he is very pleased with himself between sips. We should be completely weaned off of the bottle in a week or two.

Also, I got him a ball to play with that will not roll under the furniture. He chases it around, then grabs it and hugs it as if to say "My Ball!" or "I love you ball."

We got crayons at the grocery and he did his first drawing. He prefers red.

Pictorial proof of all these things is available in the gallery.

There is no picture to be had but we think he has started saying "da-dy" on purpose. I think we're going to officially call it his first word.

Boy meets dog

I've uploaded four new pictures of Justin meeting Rachel and Jeremy's dog Duncan. They had a good time together.

Hot off the wire

OK, here is the Justin news.

He's weaned off of the breast and is drinking cow milk exclusively now. He doesn't seem to mind and we haven't had any problems.

Yesterday he had his one year well baby checkup. Everything looks good. He got 3 shots and was cranky today, but I expect he'll be over it by tomorrow. He is now 30 1/4" tall (62%), 19 lbs 13 oz. (9%), and 17 1/2" head size (7%).

He is able to pull up on the coffee table or his toybox. He's more willing to do it if I spot him, but I think in a few more days he'll be doing it with no problem.

We've added brushing his teeth to the nightly routine. So far, he hasn't been complaining about it.

I've added a new link to his new gallery. The first one was for the first year. From now on, new pictures will go into gallery 2.

How Now Brown Cow

Last night Justin had his first bottle of cow's milk. He didn't seem to notice anything unusual and drank almost the whole bottle without complaint. He also didn't break out in hives or have any other kind of allergic reaction. What this means is that, because of Jenny's hard work and dedication to nursing, we made it to 1 year without having to use any formula (not that there's anything wrong with formula). Whoohooo!

He is the easiest baby ever. I played tennis on Wednesday and he happily sat on the side of the court in his stroller watching us play for an hour and a half. I'd go over to him every few minutes and tickle his feet or bob the tennis ball on his head and he would laugh and giggle, then we'd go back to playing and he just hung out. Unheard of.

I think he's starting to get the idea that he can make sounds (other than crying) to communicate. He says "Da do da da deh de ga da guh buh meh da Da DA DA DA" now.

Environmental Exploration

Justin is getting better at manipulating his environment every day. He's always figuring out how to open cabinet doors or pull things off shelves or flip the plantation shutters open and closed. last night he was wired. He was in his crib, not sleeping, so we got him up and let him crawl around for a while. He kept it up until eleven, when we decided it was time for bed.

I uploaded 11 new pictures to the gallery, in case anyone was interested. . .

Baptism and Theme Parking

On Sunday, Justin was baptized, along with a few other babies, at Espiritu Santo Church. He was very good and didn't even cry when the deacon poured water over his head (though he made a very unhappy face).

Yesterday, we went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Justin actually had a great time because he got to touch lots of different video screens, sit on Daddy's shoulder, and have his head bopped by large hanging pieces of foam. He laughed and laughed and waved his arms like mad. There are pictures of Justin with his favorite screen and Daddy trying to feed him to a large carnivorous dinosaur in the gallery.

Big Day

Yesterday was a big day for Justin. In the morning he had his 3rd haircut (getting ready for his baptism). It makes him look so different, especially with his four front teeth.

In the afternoon we met Denis and Stacey at the beach. The water was much warmer than when we were on Anna Maria Island so we took him out. He got splashed in the face a few times, which he didn't like, but he looked like he was almost having fun some of the time. It took a few minutes for him to get used to it, but he likes playing in the sand and was crawling around.

Overall it was a much better beach experience than last time and we think that after one or two more trips he will have the hang of it.

Red Beans & Rice

Justin is eating more and more real food. Tonight he had 15 or so bites of red beans and rice. He seems to really enjoy eating, but still gets that confused look when he has solid food in his mouth.

Tonight while he was crawling around he got tired and let his head drop on the wood floor. Bonk! He was ready for bed after that.