6-month check up stats and information

This morning was Abram's 6-month check-up with the pediatrician. Here are the latest stats:

Weight - 18lbs, 2oz (62%)

Height - 27.5 inches (83%)

Abram is a nice long, lean, and still very happy baby! We have started to use the convertible car seat and Abram is enjoying his new "ride". Now that Abram has mastered the Stage 1 baby food, we will soon be moving onto Stage 2. Will continue to use the sippy cup, but hopefully Abram will be able to enjoy the water in his mouth and not on him. Abram continues to roll around the floor, blow "raspberries", babble, and is so close to sitting up without the help of Mommy and Daddy.

The entire Blecker Family is looking forward to our upcoming vacation time in FL. First, Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Ray are heading to ATL for a visit, to celebrate Hanukkah and a couple birthdays (Melissa's 32nd and Grandma Kathy's 60th).

November has come and gone.....

Abram is developing and growing so much! Cannot believe that he is almost 6-month old. The past weeks Abram as started to really discover new things. He loves playing with his hands and puts just about anything he can in his mouth. The newest thing recently is that Abram is waving....doubt he knows exactly what he is doing, but it is pretty darn cute. Abram continues to roll-over and when on his belly, he will push up on his knees....guess crawling will be the next big milestone. Abram's laugh is so contagious and we just love to have good playtime together. He has really taken to us reading to him. He likes to hold the book along with me and Ira. Meal time has now expanded from just a bottle to oatmeal, rice cereal, and other simple baby foods. Abram has also taken to the sippy cup and it seems as though he feels like he is really eating and drinking like Mommy and Daddy.

Popi and GK came for a visit this month as well. Abram was so overjoyed with all the new faces and people around to play with and entertain him.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in the North GA Mountains with family who live in Big Canoe. Abram was a champ and slept through the entire Thanksgiving meal giving Mommy and Daddy time to enjoy the great food and company.

This month Abram experienced not one, but two ear infections. So far, Abram is doing ok with the meds, but mommy and daddy are looking forward to flu and cold season ending.

We are already counting down the days until we see all the grandparents later this month and looking forward to Abram's first Hanukkah. First, we have to cheer on the GATORS to what will hopefully be a SEC victory!!

Laughing

Here is a fun little video of Abram that we caught today.

Milestones

Abram is now 19.5 weeks and is eating rice cereal and rolling over like a champ. Ira picked up Abram from day care yesterday and was told by one of the teachers that the little man successfully rolled over all by himself. Ira and I were of course so excited and tried to get Abram to show us his new move. No luck!! Then, it was back to day care today where Abram rolled over not once but three times. Again, Ira and I wanted to see this accomplishment for ourselves. Sure enough tonight was the night...Abram is officially rolling over and on his way to crawling. Crawling will be awhile, but he is ready to be a movin' machine!

4-month update

Abram's latest stats - Height 26 inches; Weight 15lbs. 12oz.; the little guy is trying so hard to fully turn over (he gets on his side and just gets stuck there), he enjoys playing peek-a-boo, is laughing, smiling, and cooing like crazy (Ira thinks the kid is really saying "Dada").

We have attempted rice cereal twice now and more ends up on Abram's bib than in his mouth. Guess it will just take time for Abram to figure out that he needs to swallow and not push the food out!

First day of daycare....

Well, the day finally arrived when Mommy had to go back to work and Abram headed off to daycare. Today Abram did his first full-day away from both Mommy and Daddy. From what the infant class teachers said, Abram did great and was a joy to have. We can only hope that this behavior will continue. Of course with daycare in the mix and new baby schedule is taking shape and really messing with Mommy and Daddy's minds.

Motor Boat

Here is a clip of Abram's newest talent and favorite activity. He does this frequently until the drool has fallen off of his chin and his shirt is so wet that we must change him several times a day.

Sleep

So at just about 15-weeks old Abram had what I am calling his first "sleeping through the night" night. Yes, it only took about a week to get him conditioned, but Abram went down last night around 8:30pm and did not wake up until 6am this morning. Of course Mom was up every few hours just ready to hear some cry or movement. Hopefully the night we had last night will continue and just get better.

3 month pictures

Abram turned 3 months this past week and the event was celebrated with Abram's first set of professional pictures. Here are a few of the gems that came out of the sitting. Hope you enjoy.

Time flies...12 weeks come and gone.

It seems like just yesterday that we posted an update but it has been nearly a month. A lot has been going on the past few weeks. We have had lots of visitors, Abram has been growing like a weed and eating like a champ.

First Aunt Lauren (prego with another cousin for Abram...YEAH!) and Uncle Jeremy came to visit. It was Aunt Lauren's birthday and we all got to celebrate together. There was cake to celebrate the occasion. Abram got to play (sort of) in the park. It was more like everyone passing him around the picnic table in the shade. Here are a few pictures.

Next came a visit from Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Ray, Aunt Stacy, Uncle Jon, and Cousins Emily and Miriam. Everyone came together to celebrate Kathy and Ray's 40th wedding anniversary. Once again, cake was involved.

Abram got more attention this weekend than he might ordinarily get in a week. His cousins love him and only want to play with him non stop. We also took a family outing to the Coca-Cola factory and played tourist for a while.

The weekend after that, we got a visit from Grandma Roni and Aunt Lynn. We took a stroll through the Atlanta Botanical Gardens (pretty nice if you haven't been there) and just hung around for the weekend. Abram loved all of the attention he once again received. Mommy and Daddy loved having some help around the house to rock Abram to sleep and feed him all of his bottles.

Through all of this, Abram has started to giggle and hold his head up much better on his own. He is not quite sitting up just yet but is on his way. He is the only baby that we know of who absolutely loves his bath time with daddy and being put on his changing table. As soon as his back hits the table it is laughing and giggle for the next 10 minutes. The pictures above are just a few of the new ones. You can click the link on the top right of the blog to see all of the pictures that we have taken.

Oh, and we almost forgot one of the most important things thus far. Abram was exposed to the greatest football team in the land. College football started and Abram got to watch the mighty Florida Gators beat up on a few lesser opponents to open the college football season. Next post, victory pictures from our trip to Knoxville. GO GATORS!!!

Shot appointment

Earlier this week, we had Abram's 2-month check-up with the doctor. Abram has grown another 2 inches and gained 3lbs, putting him at 11lbs 13oz and 22.75 inches. All measurements are average for his age.

This appointment also included the first round of vaccine shots. Abram was a champ and pretty much slept after leaving the doctor's office. Mom on the other hand cried more than Abram!

We are looking forward to seeing how Abram develops over the coming weeks. His neck is getting stronger everyday and he is enjoying some toys and books.

8 week update

These past 4 weeks have gone so quickly since we have written a post. Abram started to eat like a sumo wrestler and gained 2 more pounds in the 2 weeks following his 4 week check up. He was wanting to eat every hour which got a little crazy so we put the cabash on that little habit and the little guy is back to a normal eating schedule finally.



Abram has also started to smile quite often. He is a very happy baby (which could only be because of his stellar parents!). We have been able to capture a few of these precious moments on camera and posted below. Abram is holding his parent's fingers tightly and watches pretty much our every move.



We also took a road trip to Florida for a long weekend. It was time for Abram to meet the rest of his great grandparents that live down there who he had not met yet. They all held him all weekend and showed him even more love than his parents already do.

More 1-month updates

Abram's original due date came and went. We spent our first July 4th as a family at a BBQ with some friends and then watching the fireworks in NYC on television. We certainly had a better view than all of the people there and Abram slept through most of it anyway.

Abram had his one-month check-up earlier this week and he is now up to 8lbs 13oz and is 20 3/4 inches long. According to the doctor, all good numbers for being one-month old even if he didn't think it was cool to hold the sign.

Last night Abram spent the entire night in his own room. His sleeping pattern still varies a bit each night and we just love it when he sleeps a 4-hour stretch. The glider has become Mommy's new best friend for feedings at 1:30am and 5am.

Don't forget the new link on the right to the photo album with lots more pictures of the little guy.

My thumb!

Today Abram found his thumb. We are heading to the doctor for his 1 month (can you believe it) check up tomorrow. More details and pictures to follow soon.

2 weeks

Welcome to the land of sleepless nights and poopie diapers. Abram is now 2 weeks old and has taken up his position as king of the household already. As we expected, there is not much routine just yet and everything revolves around when Abram wants to eat, sleep or soil a diaper. Thus far both of us had a catastrophic event while diaper changing. Twice in one day Melissa got the sprinkler treatment from the little guy. Soon she will remember to duck and cover while changing diapers. Ira's experience was much less glamorous, and we'll just leave it at that.

His battle wound from last weekend has healed and we are now just waiting for his little umbilical cord to fall off to give him a proper bath. He got his fingernails clipped so now everyone can see his cute little hands too (obviously this picture is from a few days ago).

All in all the first two weeks have been absolutely exhausting, amazing, frustrating, spectacular and magical all at the same time. Melissa is feeling very good, all things considered, and is healing up nicely too. We are absolutely loving being parents and living with our new little family. If these first 2 weeks are any indication, being parents is going to be so much more fantastic than we ever had imagined.

Bris weekend

Here are links to pictures from the bris weekend. More to come.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=x22z485.7rkqbc4h&x=0&y=myxexs&localeid=en_US

Birth Day

As was predicted in a recent post, Squirt put his foot down a little too hard on Saturday morning and broke Mel's water. At 2:20 am the water broke and by 3:30 am we were on our way to the hospital. Things moved very quickly as the nurses got everything ready for Squirt's big debut. The epidural was done and the next thing we knew the bed was moving towards the operating room. The nurses didn't give us much time to prepare so I was just trying to keep up while not losing all of our stuff and keeping the camera handy. The swift moving doctors had all the prep done very quickly and at 6:17 am on Saturday, June 14, 2008 we heard the first sounds out of Abram Justin. He weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long.


As a completely biased father, he is quite possibly the cutest (there's that word again) thing ever! When babies don't have to take that stroll down the birth canal they are born looking much less like aliens.

Abram has adjusted very well to life on the outside. Melissa is getting back on her feet and hardly missed a beat. Abram and Melissa will be heading home tonight. His weight has leveled off and mom's surgery wounds are healing nicely. More updates to follow very soon.

Peekaboo

At the 36 week visit to the doctor we got to take a sneak peek at the little guy. He is all measured out and looking good. The doctor thinks he weighs just over 6 pounds and is doing great. Squirt has been a joy to be around during this pregnancy, but has decided to enter the world in the less than conventional way. We guess that he just wants to make a statement by putting his feet down and telling everyone from the very start that he is the boss. Yes, Squirt is breech and unless we have a gymnast in our midst, he will be delivered on June 30 or possibly earlier if he decides so. So far he is calling all the shots so we never know what will be next.

Now that 36 weeks has come and gone, the final preparations are underway. The furniture has all been delivered, sheets are washed, and the clothes are clean and in the closet. Some clothes have actually made it to the hospital bag as we are getting ready for the final frontier.

Baby readiness...

This past weekend was fun-filled with family visiting and friend's hosting a baby shower. Squirt's baby furniture finally arrived and once the ceiling gets re-painted, Ira and I will be able to start organizing the room. We have received some lovely gifts from friends and family that I cannot wait for Squirt to start putting to use.

I cannot believe I am entering the final month of pregnancy. Ira and I have our 36-week doctor's appointment tomorrow. Weekly appointments will continue until birth.

Week 34 - ATL Heat

Week 34 has arrived and so has the Atlanta heat. As if it is not hard enough to get around with an extra 25+ lbs, now I have to deal with ATL heat and humidity. Thank goodness for air conditioning.

The nesting phase of pregnancy has set in. Ira and I did our "to-do" list around the house over the Memorial Day weekend. So happened that the master bath shower started to leak as well and that is being replaced as I type this posting.

"Squirt" continues to be active. Ira and I cannot believe some of the movements we both are able to feel. We find ourselves saying, "wonder what the little guy looks like, will he look more like Mel or Ira?". Only time will tell.

32 weeks - Final 2 Months

Can't believe that the final couple months of pregnancy are here. Had my 32-week doctor's appointment earlier this week. Mom and Squirt are doing fine. Was able to review some questions with the doctor that Ira and I put together after taking a tour of the hospital and attending some child prep classes. Next week Ira and I will be going to a full-day Child Birthing Prep class. Sounds exciting I know!!

Furniture for the nursery should be arriving in the next couple weeks. Not like I cannot look down at my belly and know this baby is for real, but seeing all the furniture and nursery items in the baby's room will really make it feel amazingly real!

We also made another adult purchase today. A camcorder was added to the photo/video collection for Ira to play with. Not only will there be stunning pictures of the family there will be long and boring home videos to torture you all with. More on this after the baby is born, but we will be posting videos here as well as pictures. Stay tuned for Atlanta's funniest home videos.

That darn stroller

After a bit of a taxing hiatus (all pun intended) it is time to catch up on the happenings of the past few weeks around the house.

Let's start with revisiting the stroller adventure. You will recall the little adventure that we call "Babies R Us" a few months ago. Well, now a few dear friends have purchased the first big gift...the stroller. After all that embarrassment in the store not knowing how to make the thing collapse, we were back to the same feeling but this time it was in the comfort of our own home. Thankfully the stroller came about 90% assembled in the box. All we had to do was attach the wheels and canopy and we would be on our way. A long story short I was practically hitting the poor stroller trying to figure out how to attach the canopy that goes on top to shield the elements and finally got the wheels attached. It works in the living room but has yet to be tested in the great outdoors. More stroller follies to come I am sure.

Our son is positive that he is Jewish as well. Just around the time we were reading the 4 questions at our Seder on Saturday night, Little Squirt decided to make his presence known. He was jumping around and kicking momma enough that all of us on the outside could see Mel's stomach jumping up and down. A few people at the table could see it too. I guess he knew that he was the youngest one at the table. Hopefully he will be that excited to go to Sunday school in the future but we're not betting on that just yet.

We have taken an infant CPR class and met with the pediatrician we will likely use. I can't think of anything funny to say about that. I suppose there shouldn't be.

Squirt's room will get a fresh coat of paint this weekend and the furniture should be arriving soon. Things are gearing up for "Operation Baby Arrival" around the house. The countdown is just about to start now that we are just about into the single digits with weeks remaining. We are very excited and can't wait for everyone to start visiting over the next few months. Hopefully we will figure out Squirt's real name in time! See you soon!

Girl's Weekend...

My "Girl's Weekend" with three of my closest friends has now come to an end. Jennifer, Laura, Mary, and I had a great time here in ATL. Even with the rainy weather, we still managed to do some shopping, stop by the Dogwood Festival, and see the fish at the GA Aquarium. Still hard to believe that the next time I see those girls I will be a mom. It is all just very exciting.



Week 27 has arrived and I just keep expanding in the belly. Squirt is moving around and letting us know about his presence. I am very happy, as is Ira, that Tax Season 2008 is coming to an end. Just about a week to go until I can nicely present the "honey-do" list to Ira.

Ira here....one more busy week and then my humor (like it or not) will return. Blog you soon.

Lots of movement...

Have to say over the past week or so Squirt has been very actively moving around. Ira and I find ourselves just staring at my belly to see where he will kick, jab, or squirm to next.

I feel as though each morning I wake up and my belly has grown even more from the day before. Am still able to attend my prego water aerobics class and have been walking as much as possible to stay active.

Am looking forward to my final "Girl's Only" weekend as a not yet mom. Jennifer, Laura, and Mary arrive into ATL on Thursday for a fun-filled weekend of shopping, site-seeing, and more shopping.

Deep thoughts...

I have never considered myself to be overly macho. Nobody reading this would ever disagree with this observation, I have no doubt. I have had some occasions of late that have made me very concerned. Maybe I am getting ready to be a dad and parts of it are just downright scary which I am OK with.

I have made an observation of myself lately that I would like to discuss for a moment. Lately, I have noticed that I have become more comfortable with the term "cute". This is not a word that I would use very often in my pre-prefatherhood life. In recent weeks, I have found it more and more acceptable for my lips to utter this word to describe a myriad of items, situations, etc.

Just the other night Melissa came home with a gift from a family friend that was a UF tracksuit for a 6-9 month old baby. It is fantastic...blue and orange with "GATORS" written across the back of the jacket. Every avid sports fan's dream for their unborn child. For those of you that know me well this is something that would make me very excited, especially since we are expecting a little boy to enter our lives in a few short months. My first reaction however was to call the matching pants and jacket, "cute". Over the first 6 months of this pregnancy I have become more sensitive, there is no denying that. But instead, my initial reaction was..."oh, Squirt will look so cute when we are watching football games in the fall...".

I guess this is just one of those growing pains on the road towards parenthood, but should "cute" and "football" be used in the same sentence?

Registries....

Welcome to week 22! This has been an exciting week or two. We started with the trip to the furniture store. Who would have thought that there were so many kinds of cribs? After our trip to Babies-R-Us and Ira was denied every attempt to get something sports related anywhere close to the registry the furniture was not going to be much of a battle. Simple, classic, but Ira was not going to leave that store without the glider and matching ottoman!!!! You melt into this chair and no amount of screaming baby will get you out of it. I presume that the screaming baby will be in the chair with us most of the time that we are in the chair, but who knows.

Next it was time for the registering. Under the presumption that the baby registry is no where near as fun as the wedding registry, Ira went to work and and I was off to the store with some experienced help. I must thank my dear friend Rachelle for putting up with me during this ordeal. She and I spent a few hours at Babies-r-us and Target registering for all the baby essentials. Have to say the advice from my friends and family who are already moms and the research I did before heading to the stores really helped.

Squirt is starting to get more active, so the flutters are more frequent. We are still waiting for that first big kick. Squirt is trying as hard as a little guy in his position can to talk to us though. Mommy asks for a little activity down south and all of a sudden the little guy is moving around. We'll have to wait and see if he takes to commands this well when he is on the outside too.

I started taking a pregnancy water aerobics class. Such a great workout and I get to hang out the other moms-to-be! (I have so many comments that I could put here but all have been censored. Squirt's momma has reinforced the old adage, "if you have nothing nice to say then don't type anything at all".

Daddies-R-Us?

Like any expectant parents, this past Sunday we headed off to the local Babies-R-Us to check things out. During the almost 2 hours spent in the store I was able to make several observations which I will share with you below:

1. It is amazing how you can shop for nothing and still feel like you just spent way too much money.

2. No matter how many advanced degrees you might have (Mel and I have a combined 3 higher education degrees and 1 CPA certification) it will never prepare you for the test of collapsing a stroller in the middle of a store with other dads-to-be watching out of the corner of their eye to see if they are the only one who can't do it.

3. Don't let anyone tell you differently, they make diaper bags that won't make you look like a moron carrying it around the mall. But does it really matter...everyone sees you with the child in tow, so isn't the diaper bag expected?

4. Don't be afraid to ask the other people around you in the store for their opinion. Many of them already have children and are full of insights beyond what you would ever think about.

5. Said another way, learn from all of the extra money they have spent that hopefully you won't.

6. If one of these individuals has several tatoos and when asked about the difference between different strollers replies, "this one rocks!", you should turn and run from this individual immediately!

7. I have a feeling that we all look scared for a reason!

What am I?

Today was sonogram day. After a night of tossing and turning in anticipation for the big day, mommy and daddy headed off to the doctor's office bright and early. Almost immediately once the sonogram was started we got this picture of the baby's head. It is amazing how much the baby has grown since the first sonogram we had and Squirt was only the size of my fingernail.


(This is a profile of Squirt's noggin)

As you can see from the next picture below that Squirt has certainly grown since the last time we got a little sneak preview. Squirt is now approximately 8 to 10 inches long and weights about 1 pound. Everything is coming along smoothly and all is accounted for as evidenced below from head to toe.



(Those are feet on the left and for some reason in this shot Squirt thought that a finger in the eye was a good idea.)

At this point the anticipation was killing us so I am sure that by now you are wondering what I am. When Squirt was done swimming around for a minute the tech was able to get a good shot from below and...



(The doctor assured us that was not an arm in this shot...or as Grandpa Ray put it so eloquently...there is a stem on the apple.)

That's right, Squirt is definitely a boy as we got to see several shots of the family jewels. The doctor said that the baby is normal, healthy, and doing just great. As the machine was about to get shut down, Squirt gave a little thumb's up to let us know that all is going well down below.



(yes, that is the arm again)

Movin' around

Am now at week 20 and for the past week or so, I have been feeling Squirt making the flutter movements everyone and the books said I would feel. Tomorrow we find out if Squirt is a boy or a girl. Then, the baby planning can really begin!

Chillin'

We are hoping the cold will eventually move out of Atlanta. Squirt has been blessed this week with not only 1 snow storm but 2. The city shut down for the most part unnecessarily (which is to be expected). We were hoping to give Squirt the experience of hearing Barry Manilow live but that will have to wait as even Barry was afraid to venture out in the snow on Saturday night. We think it only right to culture our child so that they can know what really happened at the Copacabana!



We are still waiting for Squirt to make contact. We are talking every day with the little guy/gal but no response. We are starting to think that the microphone (belly button) is out of order. Some sort of response would be greatly appreciated. A kick, a little nudge, something besides sending Mommy to the bathroom 14 times every night. Something along these lines would be great so that maybe Melissa would stop both sides of the conversation. Yes, this is for real. All of the books tell you to talk to the baby, which we do on a regular basis. Some conversations more in depth and serious than others, but Melissa has decided that since Squirt can't answer she will answer for Squirt. The voice is rather high pitched and kinda cute. This is why it is very important for Squirt to answer in his/her own way so that Daddy can be sure that Mommy hasn't completely lost her mind.



The next 4 weeks can't go fast enough so that we can stop typing "him/her" or other variations and finally figure out what Squirt really is. Everyone in the world is convinced that Squirt is developing as a boy. We, in our own and very unprofessional opinion, are convinced that Squirt is a girl. Either way is no matter as long as there are 10 fingers, 10 toes and Melissa will be allowed to buy ultra-cute clothing for our little baby.

For now we are all great and our little bun in the oven is baking just right.

16-week doctor visit

Just got back from the 16-week doctor visit. All is still going well with the pregnancy. Have gained about 5 pounds and the baby's heartbeat is perfect. Other than being ready to fall asleep by 9:30pm each night, I am feeling great.

Ira and I have been able to tell the baby news to all of our friends and family. It is nice to be able to share such great news and not keep it a secret. My belly is "poppin' out" and I am enjoying wearing maternity clothes. Why as we got older we ever stopped wearing elastic pants is beyond me....they are so comfortable.


We have already started the daycare center search. Been an interesting process and I am enjoying hearing local moms advice on what they recommend.