Swimming Lessons

Dougie started swimming lessons today. I am so excited!! It was a lot of fun. He loved every part of it except hanging on the wall. That's hard for him right now anyway so I'm not surprised that he didn't love it. There are 5 kids in our class and Dougie is the youngest by a year or so. We're taking the lessons at a place not too far from here called Emler Swim School. They have programs specifically designed for babies learning to swim. The pool is 90 degrees so it's very comfortable.

Our teacher mentioned that getting him swimming at this age can be a huge benefit. He doesn't know enough to be scared of the water yet and by the time he reaches that age, he'll likely already be swimming. The focus of the class at this stage is largely water safety. There is a lot of focus on swimming to the wall of the pool and being able to pull yourself out. Once Dougie is a bit older they focus on strokes but at this stage, just being able to have fun and be safe is enough.

Ultrasound Update

Dougie went in for his ultrasound today. There was a bit of confusion on exactly what was going on. The nurse at the pediatrician's office told me that he would drink some barium and they would do the test. They didn't have him drink barium though. That is the test that would normally be done on a baby Dougie's age but for some reason he was scheduled for a different test that is normally performed on younger babies.

Regardless of all that, he was tested. During the test he refluxed twice. At this point, we haven't heard from the doctor with the results and I expect we won't hear today now.

Dougie in his new hand made tie-dye shirt

Ultrasound Tomorrow

Dougie is going in for an ultrasound tomorrow at 11:30am. He continues to have refluxing episodes and the doctor wants to be sure that there is nothing else that could be causing it. From what I've read, the test takes 10-15 minutes and the worst part is not being able to eat for 4 hours prior to the test.

Needless to say, we're concerned for him but hoping that this is the first step in finding a more permanent solution.

Our Boy Can Sit

For a while, I've suspected that Dougie could sit but every time we tried, he'd flop over and try to crawl (which he can't do yet). Over the weekend, we decided to get him some "sitting toys". We thought that having something to sit and play with would encourage him to stay sitting instead of flopping over. Well, it worked!! Here are a few pictures from Dougie's first independent sitting.

Weekend Update

We had a wonderful long weekend. It was so quiet. We spent most of the time doing some organizing things around the house and relaxing. We've gotten a playroom made for Dougie. I did most of the work last week but we put the final touches on this weekend. We just have to hang blinds and paint but as far as Dougie is concerned it's finished. We love going in there during the day and spending some time.

We also went over to Uncle Rudy and Auntie Carol's new house. We haven't seen them in a while and it was great to catch up. They don't live too far from here in a great little community. Hopefully, we'll be able to see them more now that they're back in DFW. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera so we don't have any pictures from the visit. Uncle Rudy took some though and said he'd send them along. I'll include some once we get them.

President MOM

Our MOMS Club had their elections for the board today. I was elected president of our chapter. I'm really excited because I'm hoping to be able to get a few more activities that are inclusive of people that have children younger than toddler age. I think it's going to be a great opportunity to meet more people and get more involved as well. I officially take over at the beginning of July.

I Think Dougie is Spending Too Much Time with the Dogs

I've noticed that Dougie has started to take on some of the characteristics of the dogs. He certainly loves them and is quite content to just sit and watch them eat or play. But, perhaps it's too much? Looks at some of his latest activities. :)

Eating Maggie


Playing With Dad's Socks


Eating His Own Socks

The First Mother's Day

Yesterday was our first Mother's Day since we acquired a Dougie. As you can imagine, the little guy was tremendously excited since he and his Mum are such good buds, and he wanted to say a little "thank you" for taking such good care of him. He even got himself a new bib for the occasion:



We started the day off with (liquid) breakfast in bed -- Dougie and I put together a tray for Kim with coffee, juice and Diet Coke. (It was Dougie's idea -- I helped a little bit.) Dougie gave Kim a lovely frame with their favourite "Me and Mum" picture:




We had a nice breakfast and then trundled out to get our first family portrait done at Babies R Us. The photographer was great & very accustomed to working with babies, and she took some fantastic shots -- including the new family photo that now graces the top of our blog. Dougie was pretty cooperative for most of the photo shoot, though his patience has its limits -- after about 15 minutes he declared himself done.

Then we went out for lunch at one of Kim's favourite restaurants (a Cajun place called Razzoo's), did some shopping in the afternoon and a relaxing evening at home. All in all, a pretty successful Mother's Day for a couple of rookies!

One Random Daddy/Dougie Shot

Scott has been spending some extra time with Dougie this weekend (part of my Mother's day gift). They were hanging out this morning at the computer when I grabbed this shot. They just looked so cute together.

First Time on the Swings

We took Dougie to the park today. We've done that before but this time, we decided to try him on the baby swings.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, Dougie had fallen asleep. So, we had to wait a while for him to wake up again.


Once he was up, we put him in the swing. He really wasn't sure what to make of it at first.


Maggie stayed under the swing the entire time. A few times she sat up and got bopped but apparently that wasn't enough motivation for her to move.


We really did have a fabulous time. If the weather holds out, we're going to go back tomorrow.

The Move to Sweet Potatoes

Dougie has been eating avocado for a week now so we decided it was time to introduce a new food. The next food on our list was sweet potatoes. Dougie had his first taste yesterday. He seemed to like them though he ended up wearing a lot of it.

Sweet Potato War Paint


A lot of the mess comes from feeding himself.


With the bad weather we've been having lately, Dougie has been getting a lot more exposure to the puppies. Most of them continue to ignore him, which is great. Maggie is still his protector though.

Maggie checks up on Dougie


Sometimes, she just hangs out to make sure he's okay

Our Kindermusik Teacher is Moving

Miss Kat is moving. She's going to stay for the first summer session (which we have signed up for) and then she's moving away. I'm quite disappointed. The little kids in our class who have been doing it for a while love her. She gets lots of hugs from everyone throughout the entire class. Looks like we're going to have to find another teacher. She has someone she's recommending but it won't be the same.

My-Gym Finally Started

The My-Gym near us finally opened. We went to the Grand Opening this weekend to check it out and we were pretty impressed. The staff there are all really nice and it looks like it will be a good fit for Dougie. Unfortunately, we were the only people who signed up for our class so we were moved into the next class up (for 7m-13m) which runs on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays.

So, our first class was today. It was okay but not quite as wonderful as I had thought it would be. Most of that was likely related to the fact that Dougie was just getting tired when class started (he napped too early yesterday morning). Also, while some of the activities were right up his alley, some where a bit too much for him. They indicated that there would be some special activities for Dougie since he was the youngest one in the class and we had to switch classes but there was only one "special" activity. A few of the regular things were just not meant for someone his age (i.e. they were geared toward a child that can sit unassisted).

We've decided that we're going to go back. Dougie isn't too far from being physically ready for the class and I think if we can get a better nap in him, he'll be a lot more likely to enjoy it. I will talk to them next week if they don't have enough activities that Dougie can participate in.

Dougie Feeding Himself

Dougie is getting better at this solid food thing. He's still eating just avocado but he's learned to feed himself a bit -- okay, he'd starve if he had to rely on his skills alone, but he's getting there.

We think it's pretty cute, so for your view pleasure we have two short videos.

Dougie Feeding Himself (with a bit of Dad's help)


Dougie Even Cleans Himself Up

First Solids - Dougie Meets the Avocado

At our last doctor's appointment, he again mentioned that he thought starting Dougie on some solids would help with the reflux. We had originally planned to hold off solids until he was 6 months but the doctor said that based on his activity level and development, he is definitely ready. So, we decided we'd give it a whirl.

Yesterday, I spent a bit of time making baby food. We now have tons of avocado, sweet potato and banana cubes. We decided to start with the avocado since they are so high in calories and fat.

Getting ready for the first bite


Dougie helps get the first bite in


A lot didn't make it in


Daddy had a turn feeding as well


Edited to Add:

We did more avocado at dinner tonight and Dougie has found a way to help. He uses his fingers to pull the food off the spoon and put it in his mouth. It really is too cute. We'll try to get a video to you all can see it.

Holding Feet

I was just working on a post to show you Dougie holding his feet when he pulled his sock off. He's never actually gotten the sock off before. So first:

One Sock Dougie


Holding Feet for Diaper Change

Dougie's Tummy Update

We took Dougie back to the doctor yesterday. He's been throwing up again and seems to spend quite a bit of time in pain. The doctor increased his medication to half a Prevacid in the morning and another half in the evening. He said that if this doesn't correct the problem he wants to do an ultrasound just to be sure there isn't something else causing the problem. Hopefully, this will be all Dougie needs to get him fixed up.

Also, Dougie has increased his fascination with his feet. He's been playing with them for a while but they are irresistible now. He actually grabs them while we change his diaper and it makes it almost impossible to do it up.

Dougie Foot Photo Montage






My favourite one is the last one. He has a "I know I'm cute and I know I can get away with pulling off this sock" look.

Toronto Trip Summary

We are back from Toronto and we had a great trip. The jewelry show went really well. It was certainly harder to get ourselves ready before the show with Dougie around but we had some extra time and managed to get everything done.

Some pictures from the show:







During the show, Dougie hung out with my mother's friend, Naz. She was absolutely fabulous with him and he sure loved her.

Naz and Dougie (ignore the mismatched pants -- it's Scott's doing)


Napping With Naz


Our flight back was a bit more eventful than the flight to Toronto. Dougie didn't sleep through the landing and it was hard on him but he made it through. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Dallas we realized that Scott had taken the car keys and the house keys to Houston. It was a bit of an ordeal to get ourselves home and then get the car back from the airport but we managed.