First (Semi) Solids

Today marks the first time we fed Sebastian his first meal - rice cereal. We figured he's getting bigger and more active, and all the signs that he's ready to eat solids are very evident. He can sit up, he grabs, he observes and looks at us while eating our meals, he "chews", and he opens his mouth when he sees a spoon (or food) approaching. He's also a few days older than 5 months, meaning he's on his sixth month already. So, this afternoon, Bondi and I went to the mall to buy Cerelac and his first spoon and bowl. During dinner, I prepared Sebastian's meal (just added breastmilk to the rice cereal, thus the soupy cereal effect), strapped baby in his booster seat, and put on his bib. It's as if he knew what was coming and couldn't wait for that spoon to be in his mouth. He opened his mouth and took his first spoonful very eagerly, and then paused with eyes very wide open, as if thinking "hmmm... what is this stuff? this is very new to me". Everything else went by fast. He couldn't wait to have his next spoonful, and the next... and the next. He was very, very happy!

Yum!

Still camera-conscious...

...but will eat anyways

Can't wait for the next one!

Mmmm...

I think I'll have a sippy after this

Thanks, mom!

Me feeding Sebastian

Change roles - Dad feeding son

Sippy cup

Messy

Another one, son

Father and son bonding

A video clip: (Pardon the loud, exaggerated laughs of our helpers.)



ADDENDUM: Taken the next night while Bondi fed the baby (messy)

5 Months Today! (and Seb's First Boo-boo)

Today marks Sebastian's 5th month of existence and we celebrated it again with cake, ice cream, pancit palabok from Red Ribbon, lechon manok from Andok's (chicken), menudillo and rice (just bought stuff, didn't have time to prepare). I don't know what came over him, but Sebastian was so giddy and giggly specially as he watched us eat dinner while he sat on his booster seat we placed on top of our dining table. He is just so ready to eat real food, he chews constantly (as if eating something) and opens his mouth if you try to feed him. Of course, I still held off, but I am planning to start sometime within the month or the next.

Here are some pictures taken a while ago:

Don't look at me Seb, look at the camera!

Sebastian's stunned look

Happy 5 Months!

Notice the Typo on "Months"

Cake courtesy of Auntie Karen

And as he was playing with Auntie Karen while jumping on my lap, he suddenly cried out loud (only for a few seconds) in the middle of his laugh. Karen saw real tears and asked me if I was hurting him in some way. Of course you all know I wouldn't hurt my precious! A moment later, I noticed a big boo-boo on his pinkie toe. I dunno where it came from, seems it just appeared from nowhere (could be from the zipper on my shorts?), but my poor baby was still happy as long as I let him jump on my lap. Here is a shot of what looked like a painful skin tear:

Hopefully it would easily heal and never get infected. What a way to end his 5-month-birthday!

Sebastian's First Costume Party (or First Children's Party - ever!)

Last Sunday was cousin Chloe's first birthday party, daughter of my cousin Kim and his wife Cherry. It was one of those themed kiddie parties, and kids are asked to wear costumes for the event. Being informed of this only three days prior, I tried looking for an infant costume for Sebastian, even searched 3 different malls, all in vain. I wanted him to be a cute little bumblebee, although I must admit there's not much originality. But who could resist a cute baby in a yellow bee suit? Upon searching online, I found out I would need to have it made-to-order, which means setting a lead time, a luxury I do not have. Bondi, tired from all the searching we did, suggested I make one. And also suggested I just have Seb wear a caveman costume. "Barok" - like that Filipino cartoon caveman back in the day. It sounded original, and easy, so I went for it. My best friend "Google" did the search for me and I found images of caveman costumes that I can copy and pattern Seb's with. It was a success! Sebastian was so cute, he even won Best Costume as he gathered a loud applause. I will be posting pictures once I find time (hopefully soon).

Baby Boom

This is the year that everybody I know is either pregnant or having babies. I had Sebastian last February, my bestfriend Jen and her sister Jonelle had theirs June and May respectively, my sister-in-law Grace is due this September, my Bible Study group friends Ailei and Divine are also giving birth on October/November... and so the list goes. Last Friday, we threw a baby shower for our friends from college, Lyra and Ice, who happened to be best friends. It's funny how they turned out to be pregnant at the same time, with Lyra only 3 weeks ahead of Ice. We never know, it's possible their babies would be delivered at the same time.

Anyway, we held the baby shower in Greenhills, and pictures from Buddy and Tintin Ilao can be found by clicking this link:

http://tintoot.smugmug.com/gallery/5430039_JAXjB#331992477_QNQuD

UPDATE: Here is a link from Ging's photoblog:

http://photosbyging.blogspot.com/2008/07/lyra-and-ices-baby-shower.html

Here are some mixed shots from Ging's and the Ilao's gallery (in no particular order):

First, some details:

Diaper Cakes

The Party Favors
Odette's yummy cupcakes

Me and curious Basti

The Dacios (Manuel & Lyra)

The Cabicos (Bryan and Eizelle)

Games
Donald doing charades

Nursery Rhyme charades

"I'm a little teapot" by dad-to-be Bryan

Dot Account (Guess how many?)

Pacify the baby

Baby Bottle Race

Feed the Baby
Rice & Pins
Guess Mom's Tummy Size

You think they enjoyed the party?

Dirty diaper game (supposedly)

I think somebody passed gas! (Look at the guilty look of Sebastian)

It's getting late, Seb!

The group from L to R: (Tintin, Buddy, Chen, Seb, Bondi,
Bryan, Roy, Eizelle, Manuel, Lyra, Donald, Odette, Pete, Ging, Vic, Genevive)

The happy couples/parents-to-be

Fathers-to-be showing off the diaper cakes I made for them

Two preggos bidding goodbye

===================================

Before I end this entry, let me just mention some stuff: I realized today that Sebastian has already started crawling. It's so funny how he does it, though. Since he just recently started doing this, he looks more like a worm squiggling. He can move from one edge of the king size bed to the other, but not how the usual professional crawlers does it (knees and arms). He pushes his feet, lifts his butt up and moves. Although I can see him lift up his tummy from time to time, he hasn't mastered the art of crawling yet. I can now also lift him up to a sitting or standing position just by holding his hand, and he does the rest by pulling himself up. Of course, he still does his favorite: jumping. I knew I should have gotten the jumperoo back in the US. I tried for weeks looking for one here in the Philippines, but to no avail. Now I think I might have developed biceps or triceps holding on to him as he does his thing, otherwise he'll get cranky. I'll see if I still can get him one to send here, seeing as we'll be back in the Bay Area in more or less two months.

Wow, I can't believe it's been 3 months already since we got here, and Sebastian is turning 5 months next week! He sure talks a lot and loves taking a bath (he likes touching running water), and basks in people's attention. He loves being praised and being told how cute and adorable he is. And he now has fine control of his hands as he constantly reaches or grabs and puts everything in his mouth and tries to count with his fingers (he mastered sticking his index finger as if to say "1" and is now working on "2" with his index and middle finger). There's so much he's trying to discover at this age and there's no stopping this baby. Everything seems to be going too fast, because it seems only yesterday when he was only sleeping and eating. Sigh!

Ouch!

The nursing strike didn't last long and he resumed regular nursing the same night. Whew! Anyway, last night, Sebastian discovered he could bite while nursing. Ouch! And with his two bottom teeth? Hopefully he doesn't get used to doing that. The poor baby's been so irritable lately. And he always demands I carry him until he falls off to sleep. What's worse is that when I put him down, he wakes up and cries again nonstop until I give in to his wishes. Am I doing it wrong? Books and some people (even on the medical field) say you can't spoil a baby. But I don't know if I should let him cry it out or rush towards him and give him comfort. I choose the latter. I don't know how long I should, though. I mean, he could fall asleep on his own if he wants to, or if he's in the mood. But maybe, it's the teething? I still blame it for everything else. I really hope this stage will be over soon.

Anyway, here are some recent pictures: