Weekend with Grandpa and Grandma

Robbie's parents came to visit us a couple of weekends ago and we had a great time!  It was truly a weekend of relaxation for me because they kept both baby monitors all THREE nights and let me sleep ALL night.  I was so spoiled.

Hawkins LOVED baking peanut butter cooking with Grandma!

This is how Daddy dresses Hawkins for a day around the house.  All camo.  Typical.

Building blocks with Grandpa

Happy boy!

Robbie and I went to a Kentucky Derby party Saturday afternoon/night and the grandparents babysat too!

Gates can be pretty high maintenance to put to bed, but Grandma had the special touch!

Beau decided he wanted to be in the family picture.  

We had a great weekend!

Gates 6 months

My littlest baby boy turned 6 months old on May 7th.  Where has time gone??  

This is the cutest age!  He has the chunkiest thighs and cheeks.  

He is on his way to sitting up on his own...

He LOVES to play with Hawkins.  

Hawkins is a great big brother and talks and sings to entertain Gates.  

Gates just smiles and laughs at his brother.

Gates is the sweetest calmest go-with-the-flow baby.  He had a rough first 3 or 4 months of his life, but he is just chillin now.  He just plays and hangs out most of the time.  He loves to sit up with the boppy pillow or just play on his stomach.  He just started scooting backward and bouncing on all 4s.  

Hawkins wore this outfit from 9-12 months and Gates is wearing it at 6 months!

We have got a great "go to sleep" routine for naps and nighttime.  I change his diaper and put on his sleep sack and then sit in his rocking chair.  I pop in his paci and let him hold his blankie and his eyes get really heavy...I rock him for a minute or 2 and then lay him in his crib.  Works like magic.  

This is one chunky cute baby!

Gates is really starting to play with toys.  

He grabs and reaches for them and 99% go in his mouth!

We have started playing outside ALOT recently on the new play set.  Hawkins runs around and plays and Gates sits in his exersaucer.  He is so happy to be outside and watch his brother.

Gates has the funniest hair right now.  

He was born with dark hair, but the hair coming in is stark white. 

So it is dark on the ends with blonde roots!  

He had a playdate with the sweet Miss Evans

This picture makes him look advanced in the eating department, but he promptly threw up right after.

Gates is not ready for baby led weaning...

I started making his own baby food (which I never did for Hawkins for some reason...) and it is SO EASY.  I just buy frozen veggies, cook and puree - freeze in ice cube trays and store in the freezer.  Then they are in single serving sizes - ready to go!  

At first Gates loved them, but now some days he is not interested in eating.  

He has a really strong gag reflex and makes it hard to eat the chunky food.  

What Gates is doing at 6 months in bullet form:

-He loves to sleep with a paci in his sleep sack with his blankie

-He has started sleeping from 8pm - 7am usually...he still gets up in the night occasionally.

-He loves to sit in his excersaucer outside watching Hawkins play

-He can roll all around and has just started getting on all 4's and bouncing...oh no, the crawling is coming!

-He can sit up with the boppy pillow behind him, but falls over pretty quickly when he sits up by himself.

-Wears size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 at night.

-Wears a variety of size clothes...6 months, 9 months and some 12 months!

-He just switched schedules and now takes 4 bottles (7am, 11am, 3pm and 7:30pm) - 8 oz each

-Still takes Prilosec twice a day

-Eats baby food 2 or 3 times a day.

-Naps vary, but he takes 3 naps around 9am, 12pm, and 4pm.  It just depends on how long he sleeps for each one.  He stays awake for 2 hours between naps.

-He is starting some separation anxiety and LOVES his Mommy.  I take care of both boys all day long and when Robbie is home we divide and conquer and he usually takes Hawkins and I take Gates.  That means I am with Gates 24/7 and do everything for him.  Robbie laughs at how much I love that little rascal.  I just kiss his fat cheeks all day long and run to him whenever he makes a peep.  He is my baby.

We love you, Gates!

Gates 5 months

I am a MONTH behind, but I still want to document my sweet baby at 5 months old.  

This was Gates at his 4 month doctor appointment, but it was about 3 weeks late, so he was almost 5 months.  

He WAS sleeping through the night until he got a nasty ear infection.  He was up screaming most of the night for a week straight and then would just wake every couple of hours wanting his paci or Mommy to rock him back to sleep.  This lasted about 3 weeks until finally we had to start over our sleep training :(  

He slept in his bouncer seat for almost a month because his ear infection was so bad he could not sleep lying down.

This was me and my sick boy at the doctors office.

 Snoozing during the flying Easter bunny!

He was up screaming the entire night before Easter morning, but he was excited to see what the Easter Bunny brought!

Easter 2013

My little bunnies

The day after Easter I packed up the boys and we headed to St. Simons Island for spring break 2013.  It was slightly different than college spring break.  I went with my friend Caulie, who has Slade (2 yrs old) and Coe (6 months old), and my friend Libby, who has Gardner (2 yrs old) and Banks (8 months old).  It was CRAZY, but so much fun.  

Here is Coe and Gates.

Hawkins reading to the babies

Coe, Gates and Banks

Gates first time on the beach!

Hawkins and Slade LOVED each other

My little helper

We left for that beach trip on a Monday from Americus and when we came back on Friday we went home to our new house in Albany!  Robbie had been working that week to get boxes unpacked and it was so much fun to get home and see what progress he had made!  

Anyway, back to Gates.  After I knew he was healthy from the ear infection we had to cry it out for almost a week.  He was a stubborn little boy.  He is still not guarenteed to sleep all night, but most nights he does.  He is the sweetest angel, but he loves his paci and he loves his Mommy to cuddle him.  Who can blame him?  :)

His room in our new house is upstairs, so his middle of the night wakings became that much harder.  After a week or so of running upstairs several times a night I finally had to play hard ball and make him cry it out.  

Side by side of 2 generation of Raybon boys

In bullet form here is Gates at 5 months:

-He loves to sleep with his paci in his sleepsack.

-During the CIO he started sleeping on his tummy and loves it

-He just started getting in the exersaucer but isn't quite sure if he likes it

-He LOVES his brother and laughs and laughs at him

-He rolls over from back to tummy

-He wears size 3 diapers and can range in his clothing size.  B/c he has so many hand me downs from Hawkins I just kind of grab what looks like it will fit...anywhere from 9 months to 12 months!  

-He takes 5 bottles at 7, 11, 2, 5 and 7:45 - 6 oz each.  

Now on to his 6 month post...