Dude play date

On wed. a friend had a small play date for our boys (but mostly us mommies). She has a son that is a month older than Donovan, who's name is Landon and is super cute. He is a very well behaved baby and even lets his mommy put him down for naps and bedtime when he is awake. I hope he teaches Donovan how to do that. There was also another boy there, Parker, who is almost a year and a half old and who is also a doll. We took the opportunity to get a quick photo shoot of all the boys while they were all miraculously awake and happy and here are the resulting photos.
Landon and Donovan before Parker got there.

These guys are going to be best buds.

Landon, Parker and Donovan. Check out that smile on Dono!

Parker looks like he is thinking about crying because Donovan kept tipping over and laying on him and he wasn't too sure he liked that.

Sitting pretty.

Another milestone!

Guess who rolled over today...Donovan! From stomach to back and just once but it's official. He's growing up so fast!

Mystery Diagnosis: Solved!

When Donovan was either 3 or 4 weeks old I thought I was the worst mom and DFS was going to get called on me because I found a bruise on his arm and I didn't know where it came from. I noticed it in the morning and initially thought it was dirt or a mark from something, but realized it was a bruise when it did not wash away with my mommy washcloth (spit on my finger of course). It was purple, about 1 inch long and a very skinny. I had no idea where he could have gotten it and felt so horrible I hadn't noticed any injury. I just assumed his arm must have gotten pinched in a snap sometime or that he was dying of some mysterious blood cancer (I blame my hypochondriac mom for this trait of mine, thanks Patty). It went away after about 2 days and I really hadn't thought much about it until last night when I watched a similar bruise happen... it turns out, it wasn't a bruise at all... it was a HICKEY! Yesterday Donovan was over my shoulder, sucking on his forearm for no more than 20 seconds and as he pulled away I saw a hickey that he just made which was in the exact same spot as the last one! Mystery solved! So good news, I am not a bad mom afterall. Apparently I just didn't notice the last time he was sucking on his arm that hard. The hickey looks pretty pathetic, like he was in a baby fight. I took a picture for posterity's sake. I can't wait until he starts dating and I can tell his girlfriends that the first hickey Donovan ever got and gave was to himself. HEHE! Here is the hickey picture.

And here are two more failed attempts at capturing a smile. They are cute faces though!

More exciting times

Two great things to report:

1. Guess what is 6 hours? The amount of time Donovan went between feedings last night!!! And the best part was that it was from 11:30pm-5:30am and he ate from 11:30-12am and went to sleep directly after that, which means that we got...drum roll please...5 and a half hours of uninterrupted sleep! This is the longest stretch of sleep I have had since a few months before he was born, before my nighttime potty trips got out of hand. Isn't my son the sweetest? I was so proud and happy, not to mention shocked, when I looked at my watch when he woke me this morning and realized that it was 5:30. For the last several days he had been stretching out his first night-time feeding from 4 hours, to 4 hours and 15 min, to 4 and a half hours and then finally 4 hours and 45 min 2 days ago, however with each of these, he was not asleep the whole time between feedings, which is why last night was extra special exciting. I hope it happens again (like every night please Mr Donovan.) Too bad he doesn't read this blog ;)

2. And the second exciting thing is that Tom got his first official Donovan smile tonight! My girlfriend Michelle and I had a girls night tonight (dinner and RENT at the Fox, which was awesome by the way) so Tommy was on baby patrol. He said that he was getting Donovan ready for a bath and had to leave the room to get some wipes, and when he came back into the room Donovan was looking at him, and tracked him until he was next to him and then gave him a big happy smile. It was especially appreciated by Tom as Donovan was Captain Crabby Pants the whole night up until that point so it made everything worth it. It was pretty funny, at the intermission of the show I texted Tom to see how Donovan was doing and the exact text response I got was "Cry cry eat, cry cry bath, cry cry nap? We'll see how long it lasts" So needless to say Tom was very thankful that Donovan gave him such a sweet moment.

Here are some pictures I took today. I love how he stretches out when he sleeps so I had to take a picture because it is just too cute. Then I tried really hard to get a picture of him smiling because everyone should be able to see his big gummy grins but I couldn't get the perfect shot. I did get some cute ones though but the quest to document the big smile continues! Enjoy :)

More head/neck control pics

From May 26th after the bath. He is such a little man. (they are a little blurry, sorry)

Not enjoying the Bumbo

Lesson learned: Do NOT put Donovan in the Bumbo when he is fussy. He will not appreciate it.

Houston, we have a smile!

Today Donovan had his first "official" smile! He has smiled lots of times before but usually in his sleep or just randomly as he is looking around the room but today he looked at me and held eye contact and gave me some really great smiles! I could tell he was like "Hey you. You are my mom and I like you." It was so much fun! He was very smiley for a good portion of the morning today so I had a really good time watching him. Hopefully he will keep this up and share his eye contact smile with his daddy tomorrow. It's just to precious not to share.

Daddy-son sleepy times

Progression of tummy time

The following pictures show the progression of Donovan's neck control via his tummy time. They were taken on three different days.

These two were taken on May 11th. Hating tummy time and neck control just ok.



Taken on May 20th. Better neck control and not having such a bad time.


Both taken on May 27th. Awesome neck control and possibly even enjoying tummy time!

Milk tongue

Tom took this picture when Donovan was doing tummy time on the play mat 2 days ago. It's supposed to be turned but you can see him better this way. When he is awake and alert he loves to play with his tongue and Tom happened to get it caught on film.