Baxter signs "more"

I finally caught Bax on video signing for "more".  This morning at breakfast, he was a "more" machine.  He'd look at me, sign, then promptly open his mouth.  Mike was wondering if this counts as his first word.

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I posted (except for the choking incident) so I thought I'd share some recent pictures of Little Man Bax.  He's 6 1/2 months old now and actively teething.  He is a drool machine.  Unfortunately, this also means he's a wee cranky as well.  I've purchased several different toys for him to teethe and play with, but his favorite toy seems to be an old, unopened bag of Sun Chips that he crinkles and gums on to his heart's content.  He still loves Sophie the Giraffe, but will sometimes get carried away and gag himself on one of her legs.  When all else fails, he'll gum whomever is carrying him and attempt to blow raspberries on your skin.

We've discovered that Bax doesn't mind wearing accessories.  He never tries to take off hats, his binky clip, or sunglasses.  Here he is at Nordstrom with his Lolo, charming the ladies with his cool look.  Below is a video of him in his "Baxman" glasses, complete with poorly sung theme song.

Another thing Baxter loves to do is eat.  He is definitely his mother's son.  He tries to feed himself and attempts to grab whatever you're putting in your mouth.  He "helps" you drink things.  We've tried trainer sippy cups with him but he doesn't quite have the hang of them yet.  He tries to hold them by the handles and then ends up chewing on the spout.  I've tried letting him drink out of a cup but the drink usually ends up on his shirt.  I've been trying to teach him sign language since he was about four months old, and I think he knows what it means when I sign "eat".  This morning during breakfast, he actually put his little fingers together and signed "more".  It was so cute!  I'll try to get it on video.  Until then, you'll have to settle for this picture of him passed out in a food coma.

Here we are on my first Mother's Day.  Mike and Bax came to visit me at work.  All the ladies I work with were excited to see him, and Baxter loved meeting all them again.  There aren't very many people he's afraid to go to.  I wasn't sure if he'd start crying when held by my co-workers, but instead he smiled, cooed, and tried to grab their noses.

In early May, Mike, Bax, Beef, and Keith joined me on the March for Babies March of Dimes walk.  Thanks to everyone's sponsorship and support I was able to donate $285, and Billie was able to drum up $90 herself.  We walked six miles around Point Defiance Park (starting with a steep uphill climb from the parking lot at Owen Beach), all for a good cause.  It was a pretty fun day.  Bax discovered pinwheels.  It was also an emotional day at the end as we remembered our initial failed pregnancy and all the trials we went through during my pregnancy with Baxter.  I hope there's a day when people who want to get pregnant will have no problem getting and staying pregnant, and have healthy, full-term pregnancies and healthy babies.

And just because I can, I'll end with a funny picture Mike sent me the last time he was watching Baxter when I was at work.  He calls it his sexy MySpace picture, complete with self-portrait in the bathroom mirror and ducklips.

Scary situation

A couple nights ago I was changing Baxter's diaper on his changing pad.  I had given him a bunny toy that he'd received as an Easter gift to keep him occupied.  When I was taking his legs out of his onesie,  I noticed that his legs were tensed and stiff, which was unusual for him as he's always kicking and happily playing.  I then heard the sounds of him being unable to cry, and when I lifted the bunny from his face, saw that he was this horrible expression on his face, was purple in color and was in obvious distress.  I looked at the toy and saw that it was missing an eye.  He was choking.

I picked Baxter up, flipped him over, and started doing back blows.  I shouted down to Mike "HE'S CHOKING! HE'S CHOKING!", who ran upstairs where I was.  It took about 15 back blows to get the eye out, which came out with some vomit and mucus.  So many thoughts ran through my head during the time I was trying to get him to breathe and not make the god-awful sounds he was making.  I thought that if I was unable to get the eye out, EMS wouldn't get to my house in time to save him.  I was just at the breaking point of freaking out when Mike said that the eye finally came out.  Afterwards, we all cried.  My little baby just wanted to hug me, and I just wrapped my arms around him and tried to console him, but I was shaking too.  I was reminded once again of how fragile life is, and how much love I have for my family.  We were so lucky that night.  I shudder to think of what could have happened if it didn't work out the way things did.

As a reminder to all parents who have small children, please inspect your toys!  Don't let them play with anything that has little pieces that could fall off.  Make sure stuffed toys have sewn in features, rather than buttons.  More importantly, take first aid and CPR classes.  You never know who's life you can save.  I never thought that I'd ever have to do this on a family member, but I'm glad I was able to at the right time.